


Moving On

by Osmee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: #philindasummer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2014-06-24
Packaged: 2018-02-06 00:39:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1838011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osmee/pseuds/Osmee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Coulson and May interrogate Ward for intel, Ward goads them every chance he gets, but he also drops a few truth bombs as well. This gives them the chance to air things out and make things right with each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> Written for #philindasummer for seanbeanisaredshirt. The prompt, treating injuries.

Parked half a mile outside the military base from which they had just been politely but forcefully ejected, May gingerly dabs his knuckles with enough disinfectant to make them sting. Coulson knows he's lucky she's minding him at all. Based on the way she's staring icily at an empty space just left of his shoulder, he can tell she's upset with him. Her restrained composure makes him all the more nervous.

He wracks his brains for a joke to break the tension, but to his surprise, it's May who speaks first. "You gonna tell me what happened back there? Why you lost control and punched Ward in the mouth?"

Reflexively, he jerks his hand away--the guilty appendage that had thrown the punch and which she was now bandaging--and ends up banging his elbow against the car door of their nondescript gray sedan. The movement sends electricity spiking up his arm and the roll of cotton gauze flying.

May purses her lips and sighs, but doesn't bend down to fish for the gauze. "That was it, you know. Our one chance to collect unfiltered intel from Ward."

Her bluntness makes him squirm, but there's no denying the truth of May's statement. Ever since they had taken Ward down, the specialist had been a prisoner of the US armed forces, ensconced from the very agency he'd betrayed. If it weren't for May's mother's old contacts, they would have never gotten in at all. Even then, the top military brass had been reluctant to let SHIELD, especially a compromised and defunct SHIELD, get involved. And now that their prisoner was missing three front teeth, there was no chance in hell they'd be allowed back again.

So he looks out the window instead, away from her. To his relief, May checks the mirrors and revs the engine. As they leave the prison behind, winding through country roads that cut through cow pastures, she glances wordlessly at him from time to time. Her disapproval fills the entire car.

Outside, it begins to rain. 

\---

They had been given a twelve consecutive hours to interrogate Ward. A security guard had escorted them to a single cell in the highest security level and taken his place at the door. Inside, Ward sat behind a folding table, handcuffs around his wrist and ankles, and a sack over his head. He wasn't restrained otherwise.

When the bag came off, Ward immediately straightened, a flare of resentment lighting his eyes. Coulson held back a hiss of surprise. Prison had transformed the once-handsome specialist with the chiseled cheekbones into something almost feral-looking and ghoulish.

"Hello, Agent Coulson." Ward's voice was hoarse, whether from disuse or his last encounter with Agent May, Coulson didn't know. "We're both familiar with SHIELD's interrogation playbook so let's cut to the chase."

"It's Director Coulson now," Coulson answered, pulling up chairs for May and himself. May, however, didn't bother to sit. As Coulson and Ward faced each other like fighters in a boxing match, she watched them both from the sidelines.

Ward scoffed incredulously. "SHIELD falls to pieces and you give yourself a promotion? And you brought bad cop, too? I would have preferred Skye."

"Fat chance," snapped Coulson. He began to interrogate Ward, but Ward refused to speak. This wasn't abnormal. The man had been trained by SHIELD and by HYDRA to withhold information. Still, as the questioning began to feel more and more one-sided, Coulson felt his collar begin to grow damp with sweat.

"How did you meet John Garrett?"

"How did he introduce you to HYDRA?"

"Who has he been in contact with?"

Ward answered with a glare each time.

They had agreed to use Skye as a hook if Ward should prove uncooperative. He gave May a look, which she acknowledged with a slight nod. "We asked the team if they had any questions for you. Skye wants to know if you showed any remorse for your actions. I guess I'll have to disappoint her."

To his surprise, Ward laughed bitterly. "You know, I regret letting you turn Skye against me, and not finishing my job when it came to FitzSimmons. Oh, and I regret not taking May out when I had the chance." Ward subconsciously moved his hand to his throat. "Strangulation would have been fitting. That would have given the cold bitch something to scream about for once."

\---

"It was worth it, punching Ward," Coulson explodes, just as they speed past a billboard welcoming them into the next state. "He deserved it and more."

Startled by his outburst, May eases up on the gas pedal and glances over at the passenger seat. Coulson's brow furrows into a deep 'v' as he glares at his bandaged fist. Breathing hard, he continues to rant. "The bastard was out of line. I had to shut him up, stop him from saying those vile things about our team. About you. "

Ah. She knows what he's referring to. As she switches into the right lane, May squares her shoulders. "Ward's letting his ego get the better of him if he thinks he could have done the job with his bare hands."

"He was still out of line, though," Coulson insists stubbornly, staring at the condensation beading on the window shield. "Doesn't it bother you, what he said?"

"Why should it?" May answers honestly. Ward's insinuations, while creepy, hadn't been particularly alarming. "His opinions mean nothing to me."

"But he betrayed you! Whatever your arrangement with him, you still let him in, let him get close, and he betrayed your trust!" Coulson cries, angrily.

May shoots him a look that could set antifreeze solid and considers her next words carefully. "Better from an enemy than a friend." Letting out a long breath, she forces herself to loosen her grip on the steering wheel. "The Ward I considered a friend doesn't exist."

Coulson must have heard the edge in her voice, because he throws his hands up, palms out. The action strangely reminds of her of Ward. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

Part of her wants to let Coulson off the hook, but then she squares her shoulders. "Ward's jabs about me--that wasn't why you knocked his front teeth out," she challenges.

"No," says Coulson, finally, tucking his hands into the crooks of his arms. Even before Ward had finished speaking, Coulson had sprung out of his seat, infuriated, and shoved the table aside, but he hadn't thrown a punch. Not then. Rather than press him further, May drives on for another ten miles before she checks on Coulson again. Lost in thought, he moves his finger across the frosted glass of the passenger window. Although she can't make out what he's tracing quite yet, his behavior fills her with a sense of dread.

\---

"You're angry," chuckled Ward, as Coulson towered over him, still trembling. "That's how I know I've spoken the truth."

Livid, Coulson grabbed Ward by the chin, yanking it up at an angle so the former agent had no choice but to look him in the eye. "That's enough! Now tell us whom Garrett--"

"You know, I'd keep a closer eye on Skye if I were you," interrupted Ward, wrenching away. "She's special and we’re not the only ones interested in her."

"What do you mean? If you cared for Skye as much as you claim to, you'd tell us everything you know."

Ward scowled. "Then you'll have to ask your dear old pal, Raina. The girl in the flower dress. She vanished before I could get a straight answer out of her."

"What, was Garrett attracting an entourage of maniacs?"

Ward's face flushed red. "I'd choose my words more carefully, considering you were injected with the same alien goo that made Garrett go bonkers."

"It couldn't have been the GH325," countered May, speaking up for the first time. "The last of the formulation was administered into Skye."

"Coulson knows better, considering he paved the way for Garrett to access the Guest House," said Ward, breaking into a wide grin. "Whatever was in that alien drug, it saved Garrett's life. But not without a price."

"What?" breathed Coulson, as May narrowed her eyes.

"Oh," said Ward casually, "did you know? Paranoia, misplaced trust in others, unpredictable and overly emotional behavior, aggression, megalomania, insomnia. Towards the end, he became obsessed with cosmic mumbo jumbo and doodling these weird little circle diagrams everywhere. I couldn't get him to stop, not for food or sleep or even to plan our next move against you." Ward cocked his head and turned gleefully back to Coulson. "Do any of these symptoms sound familiar, Director Coulson?"

\---

"Coulson!" May repeats his name again, then rests a hand on his shoulder. The pressure catches his attention and he looks over at her, pupils constricting back to normal size.

He blinks as though he's waking up from a long unintentional sleep. "What is it? Why have we stopped moving? Are we there? Why are you looking at me like that?"

As his words leave his mouth, Coulson turns slowly to follow her gaze to the glass behind him. His warm breath catches on the cold pane of the passenger window, revealing dashes and circles radiating like the schematic of an orderly subway system.

"I'm doing it again," he says, quietly, as they sit in the breakdown lane, hazard lights blinking. "The writing on the wall." She doesn't know what he's talking about so she waits for him to continue. "The GH325 that caused Garrett to go crazy, it's catching up to me."

May shakes her head. "Ward could have been lying. Besides, Garrett was experimenting with Extremis as well. There could have been some sort of cross reaction that--"

"I'm doodling gibberish on autopilot, May. I can't control my temper. I've let my emotions override my judgment countless times." Coulson swallows miserably. "I can't even recognize loyalty when I see it." 

\---

Ward's description of Garrett's decline unnerved him more than he wants to let on. He doesn't know if it's because of his new duties as director or the GH325 taking effect, but he's been having trouble sleeping now more than ever. And if he's honest with himself, he's been emotionally unstable ever since he found out about TAHITI.

Overwhelmed, he lets May takes over the questioning. Instead of going the "bad cop" route, she opts for a more minimalist strategy. Unlike him, May knows how to use silence to her advantage, and she has the patience to wear down and outlast her subject.

It doesn’t take long for her unrelenting calm to freak Ward out. He begins to rail against them, against SHIELD, and against her until he finally runs out of steam. Although he doesn't answer any of her questions directly, in the midst of his opinionated rants and twisted logic, he gives up snippets of information nonetheless.

"Again, Agent Ward," May repeated calmly, although he can tell from her rigid posture that she's tired as well, "what did you gain by siding with Garrett against SHIELD?"

"I don't know. Stop asking me the same question," snarled Ward, staring into his lap.

Coulson laughed. For the first time, it sounded like Ward was feeling something other than anger and disdain. "Now that you're paying the price for Garrett's folly, was your loyalty worth it?" he asked, pityingly.

Energized, Ward 's head snapped back to attention. "At least that man knew loyalty when he saw it. You can't even recognize it when it's staring you in the face! It was my pleasure, you know, fooling you into thinking I was some noble but aloof pity project you could rehabilitate and integrate into the team--a younger version of you, perhaps?"

"That's enough," May shouted, as Ward continued eagerly. "You may think you care about loyalty, but what you were after, Agent Coulson, is conformity. Conformity to your ideals and your moral standards."

As May's protests faded into the background, all Coulson could hear was Ward's mocking voice, hoarse, harsh, and as relentless as the blows on a punching bag.

"Because how's this for loyalty? Agent May, the stone cold Cavalry, pushes aside her personal demons to get back in the field for you. But when HYDRA attacks, you automatically believe the worst of her." Ward shakes his head. "You know, Garrett and I ought to have thanked you for taking her out for us. I didn't think you would actually shoot her, Coulson." He paused for effect and smirked victoriously. "No wonder she was stunned."

The former agent was still laughing when Coulson's fist connected with his jaw.

\---

"I punched him because Ward told the truth," Coulson admits, with quiet horror and shame. "You've always had my back, but when Fitz caught you on that private line, I didn't even give you a chance to explain."

May stares ahead at the windshield wipers swishing back and forth. "I knew you'd be upset if you found out, but I stand by my reasons for spying on you and thought you would understand. I didn't think you'd cut me off completely."

"Melinda, I'm sorry for doubting you," he says, wishing he could see her face. "And I'm sorry for not apologizing until now."

When she doesn't respond, doesn't contradict him, Coulson knows his actions hurt her more than she has let on. He wonders if she's reliving her desperation back in the cargo bay, when he had his gun, his real gun, trained at her. What had she said earlier about Ward's betrayal? Better from an enemy than a friend.

"I don't deserve your friendship," he says, honestly.

May rolls her eyes. "That's not why we became friends in the first place, Coulson."

"But the old Coulson would never have--"

"You really gonna blame it on the alien goo?" May deadpans, although her voice still trembles a bit. Unbidden, his eyes dart over to the window, now fogged over, and she winces. Of course, he thinks. May has always been the observant one.

Reaching over, she wipes the window clean in one swipe. "I've known you a long time, Phil. Sure, our relationship has been complicated by my spying on you--"

"--and TAHITI and the very likely possibility of me turning cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs--" This earns him a weak chuckle from May. 

"--but life happens and people change. I know that firsthand." Phil holds his breath. May alludes to Bahrain as often as he lets someone else drive Lola. "Alien goo or not, we'll just have to reacquaint ourselves with each other."

"You mean you actually want us to talk about our feelings," Coulson quips in mock disbelief. When he sees her smile wryly, he feels a weight lift from his shoulders.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" says May.

Coulson grins ."Still devoted to the cause or watching my back?"

May groans and eases the engine back to life, before merging back onto the open highway. They've a long road ahead of them, but it's good to be moving again.


End file.
